A higher pension than forecast by the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) is expected by 87% of young Poles, and 6% are actively seeking knowledge in this area, according to a survey conducted by the Chamber of Pension Companies (IGTE). At the same time, the majority of young adults believe that financial institutions should educate about saving for retirement.
The replacement rate projected by ZUS, i.e. the ratio of the future pension to the last salary, could be around 24.6% in 2060. However, today’s young adults are optimistic in this area and as many as 87% of them expect that the ZUS forecast is underestimated. Half of young adults estimate the future replacement rate to be at least 68%, and almost 30% expect their pension paid from ZUS to be at least as much as their last salary, it was reported.
At the same time, almost 85% of young adults expect that their future retirement benefit will at best only allow them to cover their basic needs or not even enough. 12% of young adults expect that the Social Security benefit will allow them not only to meet their basic needs, but also to secure additional expenses, and 4% of respondents expect to be able to save money from the pension benefit in addition to this, it stressed.
“Young Poles overestimate the amount of their future pension paid from ZUS, but even this overestimated value is perceived by them as insufficient for a decent life. If you look at the results described above from the other side, you can see that 70% of Poles recognise that their pension will be lower than the amount of their last salary,” said survey author Katarzyna Sekścińska of the University of Warsaw, quoted in the material.
16% of young adults think about what their life in retirement will be like at least once every three months, while one in ten has never thought about it. The relatively low interest in the topic of the pension system and saving for retirement among young adults may be due, among other things, to how they perceive these issues. Some 53% of young adults perceive these topics as boring and 74% also perceive them as difficult, it was pointed out.
The mentioned lack of interest in the topic of functioning in retirement also translates into a low level of interest in pension financial instruments. Only 6% of young adults actively seek information on this topic, and a further 41% seek information only occasionally and it is specific, narrow information in response to something specific that has caught their interest. The remaining 53% of young Poles know as much about pension instruments and the pension system as they happen to hear, it was reported.
When it comes to retirement saving and pension system topics, young people trust their own knowledge and intuition the most (65%). In second place are friends and family (62%). This is followed by experts, educational material and financial institution websites, trusted by 58-57%. Next are financial institution employees and financial advisors, who are trusted by 5% less than family and friends. This is followed by thematic blogs, articles in the press, radio and TV programmes. The least trusted sources of knowledge about pension instruments and the pension system by young Poles are the government and public administration (40%).
According to 79% of young adults, financial institutions should educate Poles about the pension system. Furthermore, Poles estimate the responsibility of financial institutions in this regard to be the same as that of the state, at 56%. More responsibility is attributed by Poles to themselves (62%), but the responsibility attributed to schools is at a lower level, 51%, they concluded.
“Survey of pension awareness and attitudes towards the pension system of Poles up to the age of 30”, commissioned by the Chamber of Commerce of Pension Companies, was conducted by Dr Katarzyna Sekścińska on the nationwide research panel Ariadna. The survey was carried out between: 25 April 2023 – 8 May 2023, using the CAWI methodology on a sample of 1108 adult Poles aged 18-30 (mean age 26), nationally representative sample, 53.6% of the sample were women, 46.2% men and 0.2% persons not identifying with any gender.
Source: IGTE and ISBnews
